11.45am GMT

Ehud Olmert: lawyer, dealmaker, 'inside' man

Ehud Olmert became leader of the Kadima party and acting prime minister of Israel in January 2006 when Ariel Sharon fell into a coma after suffering a stroke.

He won elections to secure a personal mandate in April 2006, but within two months his premiership was overshadowed by Israel's war against Hizbullah in Lebanon.

Since the war, which ended without the recapture of two Israeli soldiers whose kidnapping sparked the conflict, polls have consistently shown him to be extremely unpopular in Israel and he has trailed the Likud leader, Binyamin Netanyahu.

The Winograd commission, which was established to examine the handling of the war, declared in its preliminary findings that Mr Olmert was responsible for "serious failures in exercising judgment, responsibility and prudence" during the conflict.

Many expected him to step down, but he carried on and his poll ratings recently improved after an Israeli air force raid over Syria in September.

Mr Olmert is also fighting a series of police investigations into allegations of corruption while he was in previous posts. "I am indestructible," he was quoted as saying in April.

Before becoming prime minister, Mr Olmert was one of Mr Sharon's key allies and supported his plan to unilaterally disengage from Gaza.

He caused uproar in December 2003, when he suggested Israel should pull out of the West Bank and Gaza, and he has pursued a slightly more dovish stance on Israeli-Palestinian affairs than some Likud prime ministers.

He argued that withdrawal was the only way for Israel to remain democratic and Jewish, because a high Palestinian birth rate meant Arabs would eventually outnumber Jews in Israel and the occupied territories.

Mr Olmert's long-term plans see Israel completing the security wall, consolidating settlers in a few blocks and leaving the West Bank.

Under his premiership, Israel has tried to bolster what he sees as the more moderate leadership of the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, while further isolating Hamas in Gaza.

However, the government's strategies, such as cutting energy supplies and severely restricting entry and exit points, have led to criticism that Israel is violating international law.

Despite Mr Olmert's more low-key approach, he has won praise. Time magazine said: "Ehud Olmert is the 12th Israeli to serve as prime minister and probably the best politician of them all. Ariel Sharon, his immediate predecessor, was a professional hero. Olmert is a lawyer, a dealmaker, an inside man."

He was mayor of Jerusalem for 10 years, before becoming deputy prime minister in 2003. He invested substantially in developing the city's infrastructure and was also a strong supporter of the expansion of Jewish settlements in the West Bank around the city.

He served with the Israeli Defence Forces as an infantry unit officer in 1973. He is married with four children.